U.K. Mother Seeks to Have Disabled Daughter's Womb Removed

The mother of a severely disabled teenage girl has been condemned for wanting her daughter to have her womb removed to give her a better life.

Katie Thorpe, 15, who has cerebral palsy, does not need a hysterectomy but her mother, Alison Thorpe, is worried that she will struggle to cope with the onset of adulthood.

Thorpe, who lives in Billericay in southern England, wants her daughter to have her uterus removed to prevent the onset of menstruation.

The plan has been attacked by charities serving the disabled, and medical experts have warned that other options should be explored before any radical surgery is undertaken.

Gary Birkenhead of the cerebral palsy charity Scope said: "We feel there's no need for it and the approach should be to change society and not the person. We're very concerned that this sets a precedent. To remove a womb is pretty serious — it's a permanent change. You wouldn't do the same for a non-disabled person, so therefore it's against her human rights."